A special announcement: Camp Finance NW 2010 registration is now open. To read more about the event and get a registration form click here for the updated page.

The National Council of Nonprofits has two good items on their website. The first is about the new hiring incentives. On March 18 President Obama signed the HIRE Act to stimulate employment. Read the details about it here and see how your organization could benefit from it.

Capacity Building

The second piece from NCN is is on capacity building in the nonprofit sector and why it matters. For more information and a detailed assessment of capacity building in the Pacific Northwest check out An Assessment of Capacity Building in Washington State. It was put together by The Giving Practice, a consultancy of Philanthropy Northwest. From the Executive Summary:

Fundamentally, this study is premised o­n the belief that a healthy nonprofit sector is vital to the quality of life in a democratic society. Nonprofits are a cornerstone for a vibrant “third sector,” where people can come together to address basic needs and problems, to bring new ideas to life, and to engage in meaningful leadership and service. Organized philanthropy is another cornerstone of the sector, with a critical role to play in supporting not o­nly individual organizations and causes, but also the vibrancy of the sector as a whole, and the passionate, engaged civic leadership that animates it.

State of the Nonprofit Sector

A new survey from the Nonprofit Finance Fund shows that times are still tough for the nonprofit sector. A nice rundown of the survey from The Nonprofit Quarterly is here. From Clara Miller, NFF’s chief executive, “One of the clearest messages coming out of this survey is that any kind of green shoots of recovery are very slow to get to the nonprofit sector.”

2009 IRS Data Book

From the IRS:

The Internal Revenue Service has released the 2009 IRS Data Book, an annual snapshot of agency activities for the fiscal year. According to this year’s report, there are more than 1.2 million charities and foundations registered with the IRS. The book provides statistical information about various exempt organization activities including applications for exempt status processed, the approved tax-exempt organizations, and technical guidance items issued.

Personal Finance

If you work in nonprofit accounting, or in some other position in a nonprofit, don’t neglect your own finances. This post from Philantopic offers good tips for folks of any age, and feel free to add your own.